Hull and cotton separator and cleaner



J. A. STREUN HULL AND COTTON SEPARATOR AND CLEANER May 31, 1927.1,630,638

Filed Sept. 16. 1925 JQHN MNULD STREUN, F

SHERMAN, TEXAS, ASSIGNOREU HARDWIC-ETTER CUM- IE, 0h SHERMAN, TEXAS.

HULL AND COTTQN SEPARATUR AND CLEANEE.

Application and September is, was. Serial No. taste.

My invention relates to an apparatus for breaking up the hulls of cottonand separating the same from the fibre and cleaning the cotton before itis fed to the gin. lln the ginning-of cotton, as it comes from thefield, it is a common difiiculty that the cotton is very uneven inquality. Some of it is fairly clean and open, while in others the bollsare closed and have to be broken to loosen the cotton therefrom. Some ofthe cotton is not entirely ripe, and furthermore, it may be filled withdirt and chad.

llt is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus which may beemployed on all grades of cotton as it comes to the gin, and toadequately break up the bolls of cotton, separating the bulls and chafftherefrom, and cleaning the staple before it is fed to the gin.

ln carrying out this invention, the improvements he in the constructionand an rangement of the parts, as will be hereinafter set'forth, and fora better understanding of which reference is made to the accompany ingdrawings, wherein Fig. l is a side elevation of an apparatus embodyingmy invention, the side of the housing enclosing the apparatus beingremoved to show the position of the parts, the housing of the refuseconveyor being in vertical section. Fig. 2 is a somewhat. diagrammaticview illustrating the arrangement of the agitator rolls wherebythccotton is fed to the saw so as to re move the fibre. Like numerals ofreference are applied to like parts in both the Views.

in carrying out my invention, 1 provide an upper chamber 1 which isenclosed by housing 2 shaped to enclose and support the operatingrollers, which will be described. Aninlet pipe or chute connects withthe forward part of the housing and.

acts to conduct the cotton into the chamber. (In the lower side of thechamber 1 is a suction tan indicateddiagrammatically at 4, and this fan.is connected through a pipe 5 a with the lower chamber 6 of the housing.

The chambers l. and 6 are connected together, the space between thelower sup porting beams 7 of the upper housing being open to allow thepassage of air therethrough. The operation of the suction. fan 41,therefore, acts to create a draft inwardly through the pipe 3 drawingthe cotton into the chamber 1.

The cotton entering this chamber is ea gaged with some force by theradial blades of the beater 8. Said heater is mounted on a shaft 9supported at its ends in the side walls of the housing. it rotates inthe direction of the arrow and strikes the bolls of cotton, breakingthem up somewhat and throwing them downwardly againstthe breaker rolls10. i

There is a plurality of breaker rolls 10 mounted in a row at the lowerside of the casing. l have shown four of these breaker rolls, each beingmounted on a shaft 11 supported at its ends in the walls of the housing.lhese rolls are cylindrical and have radial spikes 12 thereon to-engagethe cotton. The forward one of the series is mounted closely adjacentthe concave 13, which consists of a plate with projecting teeth 14thereon interfitting with the teeth 12 of the breaker rolls. The cottonwill, therefore, be engaged by the rolls, and as these rolls are rotatedin such direction as to carry the cotton towardthe concave 13 the bollsand hulls will be carried downwardly against the concave 13 and willthereby be broken up. It is contemplated that the concave 13 may beadjusted in the usual manner.

below the-breaker rolls is a foraminated screen 15 which is supported inposition closely adjacent the lower sides of the breaker rolls and iscurved to conform to the curvature of the rolls, as clearly shown in thedrawing. The dirt and chad will be allowed to pass downwardly throughthe screen, and this operation will be assisted somewhat by the suctionoft-he fan 4. The cotton will pass from the breaker rolls into contactwith the blades of a vacuum fan. This fan comprises a shaft 16 havingapproximately radial blades, the outer edges of which are provided withflexible baffles 17 which contact with the p upper and lower walls 18 ofthe chamber in which the fan is mounted This fan will engagethe cottonand carry it under said fan and discharge it into a chute l9 Said chute19 may discharge into either of two pipes 20 or ill, and a movable valve22 at the mouth of the chute 19 may be employed to divert the cottoninto either of the two pipes 20 or 21. lit the cotton is comparativelyfree of unbroken bolls, the valve will be drawn to the right so as todivert the cotton through pipe 20 to the chamber where cotton will besub jected to a further cleaning,

tilt) Kill ill

lltli llltl The chamber 13 is not Connected with the upper chambers 1 or6. It has its lower wall inclined downwardly toward a trough 24 in whicha screw conveyer 25 is mounted. Above the lower wall of the housing area series of picker rolls 26. l have shown four of these rolls althoughany desired number may be used. They are arranged in a series inclinedupwardly toward the forward side of the cleaner, thus the cotton whendischarged through the pipe 20 will be received upon the lower of thesepicker rolls and will be worked upwardly until it passes the uppermostofthe rollers and discharged into the distributing chamber 27. Each of thepicker rolls comprises a cylinder having radial pins 28 thereon, saidrolls being rotatable in a clockwise direction, as seen in the drawing.Below the picker rolls is a screen 29 which closes the space below therolls and is curved to conform to the curvature of the rolls, as shown.It will. therefore, be noted that the cotton will be carried downwardlyunder each of the picker rolls and against the screen 29. This willagitate and break up the cotton and sift the dirt and chaff through thescreen 29 down to the con veyer 25 by means of which it will bedischarged from the housing. The cotton IS 1t passes from the cleaningchamber to the d15- tributor 27, may be carried to bins for storage, ormay be moved directly to the gins for ginning.

In case the cotton is particularly bolly and dirty, it may be subjectedto further agitation and cleaning before being dis charged to thecleaning chamber 23. This is accomplished by throwing the valve22 so asto conduct the cotton through pipe 21 to the agitating chamber 30.lVit-hin the said chamber 30 is a saw comprising a specially constructedbelt 31 which is the full width of the housing and has on its outersurface a closely arranged series of upward- 1y inclined teeth 32thereon. This belt is drawn over a pulley 38 at its upper end and asimilar pulley 34.- at the lower end of the chamber. Beneath the sawthus provided is a sheet metal wall 55 closing the space below the same.To the right of the saw, as shown in the drawing, is an upper agitatorroll 35 having radial teeth thereon to break up the bolls of unopencotton. This roll rotates in a clockwise direction and tends to carrythe cotton downwardly against the series of feeder rolls 35, 37, 38 and39 mounted in a vertical series below the agitator roll. Each of thefeeder rolls is provided with a series of teeth or bristles 4O thereonwhich are inclined bacltwardly from the direction of rotation. Thesebristles, as shown in Fig. 2, are arranged spirally upon the roll uponwhich they are mounted so as to serve as a conveyer to move the cottonlaterally along the face of the saw. Each of these rolls is rotatable ina. counter-clockwise direction so as to carry the cotton toward the saw.The arrangement of the bristles upon each t'ceder is such as to carrythe cotton in opposite directions relative to the adjacent rolls.Beneath each roll is a. trough 41 of screen, and as shown in Fig. 2.these troughs extend from one end of the roll to a point spaced from theopposite end of the roll leaving an opening 49 through which the cottonmay fall on to the roll below. The arrangement of the bristles on thenext succeeding roll will carry the cotton in an opposite direction todischarge it over the end of the trough on to the next lower succeedingroll. The lower roll 39 will carry the hulls through an opening in thehousing to discharge them from the machine. Thus the cotton will becarried back and forth across the forward side of the saw so that beforethe bulls are discharged. all of the lint and cotton fibre thereon willbe caught by the saw and carried away from the bulls.

The cotton lint caught by the saw will be carried upwardly and over thetop of the pulley 33 where it may come in contact with brush rolls 43and 44. The brush roll 43 directly above the pulley rotates in acounter-clockwise direction. as seen from Fig. l, and is spaced slightlyaway from the saw and will act to throw back the hulls which mayotherwise be carried along with the saw. The brush roll 44. is rotatedin a direction opposite to that of the roll 43 and is closely adjacentthe saw so as to brush the lint from the saw and throw it forwardlythrough an opening 45 into the chamber 2:3 where it will be subjected tothe cleaning action of the picker rolls 26. and from thence to thedistributing chute 27.

The lower part of the chamber 6 has therein a conveyer roll 46 whichcatches the dirt and chaff coming through the screen 15 and dischargesit into an outlet chute 47. It is understood that the chute 47 may havethe ordinary type of canvas valve therein. allowing the discharge of thematerial which enters the same.

The operating mechanism consisting of pulleys and belts or chains uponthe shafts of the various rollers and cylinders has not been shown, itbeing understood that this arrangement is carried out in the usualmanner, and the arrangement thereof constitutes no part of my invention.It is simply necessary to arrange the operating means to rotating theshafts of the various operating parts in the direction indicated.

The action of my device has already been described. It is to be notedthat the apparatus can be used upon the ordinary cotton of goodquality,in which case the cleaning chamber 23 is used in conjunctionwith the hrealter chamber 1. If, however, the cotlot) ill

incense ton is belly, having a material proportion of unopened bolls,the cotton after passing the breaker chamber 1 will be discharged intothe chamber 30 Where the halls will be eliminated before the cotton ispassed to the cleaning" chamber 23, The apparatus is simgole inconstruction and arranged to most efliciently act upon all grades ofcotton so as to feed a minimum amount of bulls and other foreign matterto the gin. [The quality of the cotton thus acted upon is materiallyimproved over the cotton not otherwise cleaned. 7

Having thus described my invention, what l claim as new and desire toprotect by Letters Patent is:

1. in a device of the character described,

a breaker chamber, rneans to teed cotton thereto, means to break up saidcotton, an agitating chamber below said breaker chamber, a belt havingsaw teeth thereon, a series of vertically spaced conveyor rolls adjacentsaid belt whereby said cotton may be moved back and forth across saidbelt, a cleaning chamber, and means to remove the cotton from said beltand discharge it to said cleaning chamber.

2. in a device of the character described, a breaker chamber, means tofeed cotton thereto, means to break up said cotton, an agitating chamberbelow said breaker chamber, a belt having saw teeth thereon, a series ofvertically spaced conveyor rolls adjacent said belt whereby said cottonmay be moved back and forth across said belt,,a cleaning chamber, meansto remove the cotton 'from said belt and discharge it to said cleaningchamber, comprising a brush roll in the upper portion of the agitatingchamber, and cleaning rolls in said cleaning chamber.

3. in a device of the character described, a breaker chamber, means tofeed cotton thereto, a series of horizontally arranged breaker rolls, aconcave adjacent one of said rolls, a beater roll above said breakerrolls, means to discharge said cotton from said chamber, an agitatingchamber, a toothed belt thereinl a series of conveyor rolls adjacentsaidbelt, troughs below said conveyer rolls allowing the cotton andhulls to pass firom one to the other oi said conveyors, means to removethe cotton from said belt, and means to clean said cotton.

4. in adevice ofthe character described,

a housing, means to break up the bolls out cotton fed therein, anagitating chamber, upper and lower spaced pulleys therein, a beltrunning on said pulleys, forwardly inclined teeth on said belt, a seriesof vertically spaced conveyer rolls adjacent said belt,

troughs below each of said rolls, the rolls cotton thereto, laterallyspaced breaking rolls in said chamber, a heater above said rolls, saidchamber having an outlet opening therefrom, means closing said outletagainst the inward passage of air and acting to discharge cotton fromsaid breaker chamber, means to eliminate the hullsirom said cot ton, andmeans to clean the chaff and dirt from the cotton thereafter.

6. In a device of the character described, an agitator chamber, means tobreakup and feed thecotton to said chamber, a belt arranged to run in anapproximately vertical direction in said chamber, forwardly inclinedteeth on said belt, means to feed the cotton repeatedly back and forthacross said belt and discharge the hulls from said chamber, means toremove the cotton from said belt, and means to clean said cotton.

7. In a device of the character described, an agitating chamber, meansto feed cotton thereto, a belt in said chamber having inclined teeththereon, a plurality of vertically spaced conveyor rolls adjacent saidbelt whereby cotton may be moved back and forth across said belt, andmeans to remove cotton from said belt and move it from said chamber.

in testimony whereof ll hereunto affix my signature this 8th day ofSeptember, A. D. 1925..

JDHN ARNULD till)

